1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus to be used for industrial, medical, or similar applications, which is provided with a sensor at the tip of an insertion section which is inserted into a cavity.
2. Description of Related Art
Typically, an endoscope apparatus used for an industrial or medical application is provided with an elongated insertion section, which is inserted into a cavity. Furthermore, in such an endoscope apparatus, an illumination device is provided at the tip of the insertion section in order to illuminate the object to be observed in the cavity, for easy observation and imaging. In recent years, light-emitting diodes (referred to hereunder as LEDs) have been proposed for use as such illumination devices (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. H10-216085).
Moreover, an endoscope apparatus incorporating an elongated insertion section is also disclosed in which an imaging adaptor is installed at the tip of the insertion section such that it can be attached and removed freely, and in which an imager such as a CMOS sensor or the like, and a substrate containing an acceleration sensor, are provided in the imaging adaptor (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-263057). The acceleration sensor in this case is provided to detect the direction of gravity.
Incidentally, in the case where LEDs are installed at the tip of the insertion section for use as illumination for observation, temperature control is required to prevent the LED illuminators from being damaged, or the like. Furthermore, in the case where fluid actuators are used for the bending operations of the bending section, it is desirable to measure the pressure of the fluid supplied around the bending section in order to control the bending operation using feedback, and detect leakage of the fluid.
In this manner, it is necessary to provide a range of sensors that can measure required information, such as temperature, pressure, and the like, appropriately.
In addition, for the imaging device for observing an object to be observed, optimum optical lens groups are selected appropriately for use according to various conditions such as the object to be observed, observation range, and the like. Against this background, an imaging device (CCD, CMOS sensor or the like) is provided at the tip of the insertion section, and a plurality of types of adaptor that can be attached and removed are prepared to be exchanged during use. Since the adaptors are provided with illuminating devices (LEDs or the like) and optical lens groups for different applications, the adaptor having the optical lens groups most suited to the observation conditions is selected at the time of actual usage.
In the case where a plurality of types of adaptor are exchanged during use, if the construction is such that the above-described range of sensors is provided in the adaptors, it is anticipated that there will be a variety of combinations of different optical lens groups and sensors.